MISSOULA, Montana, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- June 21st will mark the first of six auctions for the Cup of Excellence® award winning coffees from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.  Farmers from these countries submitted their best coffees in April and May to be evaluated by professional teams of cuppers. Each winning coffee has been tasted, sniffed and scored at least 5 different times by 2 different juries and each time received a minimum score of 85 points during the competition. The top ten coffees were evaluated again. The first place winners from each country received above 90 points. Each competition has a national and international jury that travel to the origin country for judging.

"The Cup of Excellence juries are very tough," explains Grant Rattray, Managing Director for the Cup of Excellence program. "Just to get into the finals the farmer must harvest the coffee cherries at perfect ripeness so that their sweetness lingers on the palate.  In addition, cuppers must find a wonderful uniqueness in the brew that represents the terroir and the varietal of the coffee. All of the characteristics must be in harmony and the aftertaste must leave a pleasantness that makes one want to take one more sip."

These award-winning coffees represent less than one thousandths of a percent of the coffees produced in the world and are only available through an online auction. Very few companies focus on coffees this rare and they will bid against each other for the right to own these winners and to share them with their discriminating customers.

Coffee lovers can watch the live online auctions June 21st, June 26th, July 3rd, July 12th, July 18th and July 25th and view the results. Once the auctions have been completed the winning farmers will receive the majority of the premium price, which for very small farmers is more money than they will make all year.

The Cup of Excellence is managed by the non-profit Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Inc, which enjoys membership from global specialty coffee companies and equipment sponsorships from Probat, Mahlkonig, Pacific Bag and Decagon. Open to all farmers equally, the program has discovered thousands of unknown exemplary coffee farmers. For more information or to become a buyer of these fine coffees log on to www.cupofexcellence.org.

Contact:
Susie Spindler
Executive Director
Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Inc.
Email: susies@cupofexcellence.org
Phone: +1-406-542-3509

SOURCE Alliance for Coffee Excellence